If the first debate between 4th Congressional District candidates Mia Love (Republican) and Doug Owens (Democrat) is an indication, the race in this open U.S. House seat will be lively.
Owens will be attacking Love’s previous Tea Party-like statements and actions.
Love will be saying she can work with anyone, in any party, to fix America’s problems.
And it may get a bit testy before November’s election.
Appearing before a packed luncheon in the Grand America Hotel, the pair responded to six questions previously given to them.
Moderator Frank Pignanelli, a former Utah House minority leader, said the format ensured there would be no talking back and forth, no “cheap shots.”
Well, not quite.
Owens knows he’s the underdog, even though Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is the current incumbent who surprised a lot of Utah politicos when he announced last December that he wouldn’t run again this year.
Love lost to Matheson by a scant 700 votes 18 months ago, and the former mayor of Saratoga Springs has been fund raising and planning her 2014 campaign ever since.
Love said she would not attack people in this year’s campaign, but “attack problems.”
If she keeps that promise, it may be a rather one-sided argument as Owens came out swinging Tuesday at the Utah Taxpayer Association annual tax conference, which sponsored the debate.
Owens said Love “applauded” as the federal government was shut down last year as “ideological” stands proved nothing, but cost the American people more than $2 billion.
Indeed, Love and other Utah conservatives sponsored an appreciation rally for embattled Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the Tea Party leaders who helped shut down the government.
In his opening remarks, Owens said Lee’s actions – with Love standing beside him – cost Utahns $30 million (the price it took for GOP Gov. Gary Herbert to open Utah’s national parks to tourists).
The Tea Party flirted with defaulting America’s bonds, said Owens, “as Mia Love applauded and the shut down became a break down.”
Love is “driven” by the national Tea Party, where she is getting most of her campaign funds out of state, said Owens.
While middle class wages stagnate and regular Americans suffer, he added.
At one point Love said she was flattered that Owens was mentioning her name so much in his debate responses.
Still, she took the “joking” only so far; near the end of the debate Love started saying “wrong,” rather quietly, as Owens accused her of positions said she doesn’t take.
A few opinions of the two:
— Love said she “absolutely” wants all of Obamacare repealed.
Owens said the political reality is that the Affordable Care Act won’t be repealed. And while there is much wrong with it, fixes achieved through bipartisanship is the only way forward.
Love said at the most basic level, the federal government shouldn’t be forcing people who don’t want to buy health insurance to buy it.
— Both candidates want cuts to the 35 percent federal corporate income tax.
Owens said he supports up to a 10 percentage point reduction in the tax, which is really more like 25 percent today because of all the “special interest” loopholes in that part of the tax code.
Love wants the corporate tax reduced as well, but didn’t give an exact number.
Time and again she criticized the Obama administration in a number of areas. And she gave examples of where, as a small town mayor (she left office Dec. 31) she worked with all kinds of citizens to achieve real goals.
Love said the federal tax code is four million words, “five times longer than the Bible.”
“The tax code should be fair and transparent and fit in a three-ring folder,” she said.
“Next time I need help with the scriptures, I’ll think of you,” countered Owens.
(Both Owens and Love are active members of the LDS Church.)
— A real difference, said Owens, is their approach to federal education efforts.
Citing a comment made early in the 2012 race (which may have harmed Love back then), Owens said she wants to do away with the federal department of education and all of its aid to Utah schools.
Utah parents and teachers are best able to pick curriculum and testing, said Love.
She said the federal government really shouldn’t be playing a roll in Utah public schools, especially dictating any curriculum or education topics.
“But if you just play the blame game, there is no room for you in Washington,” she added.
“We couldn’t be further apart than on the issue of education,” said Owens. But he added he doesn’t support any kind of federal requirements in testing of students. “We can take care of that in our own schools.”
— Love said Utahns, at the state and local levels of government, are best suited to manage all the federal land now in the state.
Owens said the feds spend around $300 million a year managing federal lands here. Where would Utah get that extra $300 million if it takes over those lands?
He doesn’t see anyone lining up to pay that bill.
Actually, Owens said, federal land costs are a gravy train, and he proposes to keep taking that ride.
“There is no realistic chance” of Utah getting control of federal lands in the state, and state legislators should stop throwing money away on the attempt.
Finally, after Love criticized Owens for “attacking” her, he replied that everything he had said in the debate can be fact checked by the media.
“There will be plenty of reasons not to like me before this campaign is over,” but what he says about Love is the truth, and can be measured against her public statements, said Owens.
Love told Owens “nothing you’ve said about me is true. “Listen to what I say,” she added, “not what others say about me.”
“If you like the status quo, don’t support me,” said Love.
Some themes to watch for as the Love/Owens race continues:
Love is saying Washington doesn’t need another lawyer – Owens is an attorney. He graduated from Yale University Law School.
But Utahns don’t want “Ivy League graduates’” ideas “seeping into our homes,” she said.
Owens is saying Love is an archconservative, Tea Party clone, too far to the right for even Utah voters.
“If elected, I’ll bring this country back to a one wage earner family. I won’t insist on a party line; I won’t say others are howling baboons” if they don’t agree with me, said Owens.
“Look at Mayor Love’s record. Hating government is not the same as solving problems,” he said.
Added Love: “In Saratoga Springs we didn’t have Rs and Ds stamped on our foreheads, yet we found great solutions.
“Let’s send a message, come along with us.”
